


Alistair's Rose

by KanraTheTeddyB3ar



Series: Greensleeves Universe [1]
Category: Dragon Age (Video Games)
Genre: Alistair was Hardened, Anora totes has a crush on Alistair, F/M, Gossip and Frivolity, I Tried, Implied Relationships, Implied Sexual Content, Loghain is Not Amongst the Living, Oh Myyy
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-04-17
Updated: 2016-04-17
Packaged: 2018-06-02 21:28:27
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 771
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6583231
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/KanraTheTeddyB3ar/pseuds/KanraTheTeddyB3ar
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>The nobles of Ferelden all assume that Alistair is having a secret affair with an Elven servant girl. Anora plans to get to the bottom of it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	Alistair's Rose

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Marika_Haliwell](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Marika_Haliwell/gifts).



> This is kinda AU since Nelaros is alive, but _Greensleeves_ and it's universe is slightly AU in and of itself. Also, Nelaros is a precious baby who needs to be protected!
> 
>  
> 
> I dedicate this one-shot to Marika_Haliwell, since she asked for it. I have attempted to deliver!

It plagued her through every corridor in the royal palace. Elven servants snickered, human servants sighed, and the biddies of the nobility whispered in dark alcoves. It was a popular topic, and it made Anora rather sick. Sometimes, she just wished to scream (not that she would even if she could).

The topic? _Alistair's Rose_. It was all anyone in Denerim, perhaps all Ferelden, talked of. Well, when they weren't talking about the mage rebellion, the Inquisition, or a myriad of other things. It annoyed her to no end.

Their marriage had not been a happy one, not at first. Alistair managed to become adept at ruling alongside her in the course of a year, and was close to on par with her after four more. It was around the time that Teagan began courting Ophelia that she actually admitted (to herself, of course) that she felt something akin to friendship with Alistair.

She wasn't sure when that friendship began to deepen, but it had, slowly, by inches. He'd send a smile her way after she made some smart quip, and she had to fight the blush that threatened to redden her cheeks. He would ask how she slept (they slept in seperate rooms), and her heart would flutter. She'd promised herself that she would care for none after Cailan (the lovable fool that he was), but she somehow felt so... _disarmed_ around her former husband's half-brother (and it, perhaps, didn't help that Alistair was attractive, in a homey sort of way).

What he did in secret was none of her business, true. If he wished to dally away his time with one of the servants, he may. Anora Theirin  _née_ Mac Tir, however, would not be made a fool of.

Which was how she found herself in Alistair's study. He was talking to a rather pretty Elf girl, back to her. The Elf girl's turquoise eyes widened when she spotted Anora.

"I thank you for your time, milord." The Elf girl curtsied, then all but sprinted from the room. Alistair turned to give Anora a look, and she ignored the way her heart pounded.

"You're here about the rumors, I take it?" Alistair questioned. "Unless there's something else...?"

"Was she your Rose?" The question comes unbidden from her lips, before she can formulate the proper way to ask after his affair. "It's not my concern, I know, but-"

"Who, Ashasa? Maker, no." Alistair laughed-actually laughed-and her heart took flight. "She's pretty, don't get me wrong, but she's married. No, my heart belongs... elsewhere."

"Oh. May I ask who she is?" Anora asks, in a much gentler tone. "I'm not asking just to nag. I only wish for there to be no secrets. I don't want to wake up one day and find that I'm to head to some cloister so that you can marry your mistress and make her queen while I-"

She's cut off then, by a sudden pair of lips on her own. It is rough, unpracticed, lacking the finesse and grace with which Cailan would kiss her. It is _perfect_.

"Sorry, that was a mite too much." He breaks the kiss and backs away too soon, much too soon for her liking. "I just didn't know how to shut you up besides, y'know, telling you to shut up."

"Alistair... am I your Rose?" She whispers in a hushed, fearful tone. When he nods, short, curt, she wants to cry. "Maker... how much time did I waste telling myself that we were merely friends? I should still be angry, nothing but vindictive in private company. Now, all I wish is for us to be... _us_. King and Queen, husband and wife in more than name."

"I think you're making us waste a little more..." Alistair quips, and she chuckles. "So... where does this leave us?"

"I'd very much like us to be more, if that's what you mean."

"Well, then, we're more." He kisses her again, and she's not afraid to return the affection. She realizes, then, that's she's been starving for affection for a long time. A slow, languid smile touches her lips as the kiss breaks.

"I honestly thought you were having some secret affair."

"I'll show you a secret affair."

"Is that a promise?"

"It's an Alistair guarantee. Is my head wanting to explode normal?"

She laughed (or guffawed, or something altogether un-Queenly), happily leading him to the master bedroom (which had been her room up until then).

Later, as she lay in her husband's (in more than just name) arms, she admitted that maybe, just maybe, Ophelia and Isolde had been right all along.

**Author's Note:**

> I honestly tried my hardest with this fic. Anora is rather hard to write for, seeing as she rarely lets that Queen-ly mask of hers slip, and I've never really hardened Alistair in a playthrough. All in all, I think it turned out alright.


End file.
